Your opinions? Re: gifted program 1st grade

Just curious what others think about this. I volunteer a lot in my ds's 1st grade class. Today, I noticed that 4 students were pulled out by the gifted teachers. Great. But I noticed that 3 of the 4 students were red-shirted kids with summer birthdays that technically should be in 2nd grade.

Does anyone else think this is not a great use of resources? Or no big deal?

Comments (223)

Wait--so it's not okay that my very advanced child (possibly gifted) gets extra services to meet her academic needs, but it is okay for my speech delayed child to get extra services? How does that even make sense?

Both have academic needs that the average teacher can't meet--so both should be able to receive services or those academic needs.

Are you kidding me, Charlieecho? Gifted kids should solely be financed ny their parents or ellusive scholarships? You do realize how important to all of our future these kids are? Being fair, as I believe another gifted ed teacher pointed out, is not giving all kids the same thing, but giving them what they need to succeed. How do we define success? It can be different for all kids! We are not serving our kids properly if we decide we are happy with "good enough". It is an educator's job to push these kids as far as they can go, and for that we need special programming for G/T kids. It is unreasonable to think that a regular classroom teacher can attend to all of those needs, especially when it is so easy to let the G/T kids slip by, because often (not always) they are the ones sitting in class, getting work done, not causing any problems.

What if a parent of a G/T kid can't afford the extra actvities? Then that child is only served by the public school to the best of the ability of a regular classroom teacher (who, by the way, I am not putting down. I think they have a ridiculously difficult job trying to accomodate the needs of ~25 kids) who does not have the training that is needed to teach these kids? How is that fair (in the sense that I and another G/T teacher have described it)? This has no bearing on if a child is a "special snowflake"... you do realize SOME kids have to be gifted, right? And need extra programming?

FTR, I think gifted programs are great and necessary. I just have a problem with this particular situation where these kids are getting extra/advanced work when they should technically be a grade above anyway. There are NO behavioral issues with these kids either....

I'm just VERY against any student receiving "more" given the state of the educational system.
I'm not sure where you're located, but many districts do not budget for athletics extensively anymore. Fees and booster donations pay for the bulk of those programs and the schools only stay "in it" to collect revenue in ticket sales.
And, I would absolutely support athletics being scratched off the budget completely before other programs.

Lack of behavior issues doesn't mean they are socially or emotionally able to be a grade above. It also doesn't mean they aren't gifted or super advanced.

Do you know what they were like the summer before they started Kindergarten? Do you know why the parents waited a year? Do you know what month their birthday is? There could be so many reasons why the parents waited and all of them are probably valid.

But who are you to say that these kids should be a year ahead? Just because of their birthdays? That makes no sense. I, along with others on this post, have given you examples of kids who, while advanced, would not succeed if they were placed a year ahead. Whole grade acceleration is about so much more than the material placed in front of them. And are these kids you are seeing advanced in all areas? Or you happen to see them get pulled out every now and then?

Wow, these students are not receiving "more". They are receiving what they need in order to have a quality education. I am so glad to live in one of the 4 states that has the highest standards and requirements for gifted ed...

Exactly jasp. Keep them behind due to age, but then spend more money in educating them because of their ability?? Makes no sense.
And yes, a speech delayed child should receive services before a gifted child receives even more services. It's not about holding the gifted child back...I just don't feel it's the schools responsibility to move the gifted child onward and upward...it's his parents'.